If you've been viewing Law and Order, Boston Legal, Murphy Brown, or several of the other legal programs on TV, or if you've spoken to anyone that has had legal difficulty before, then you grasp a little bit concerning how the process works. First, your Seattle criminal attorney is going to (or should) undertake an in-depth look at your situation, including the police reports, any videotape that exists, and interviewing any witnesses that may exist. Next, they are going to have you obtain an alcohol valuation, which, depending on what it says, will have an consequence on the path of the plea negotiations. Following that, they'll phone up the prosecutor and see what they can work out.
But what are the options? What is likely? From the very beginning it is crucial to appreciate that Washington driving under the influence laws (and drunk driving laws across the nation) are several of the most strict when it comes to plea bargaining. No legislator wants to be accountable for releasing a drunk driver who goes out and drives impaired yet again and causes harm (even though individuals can drive devoid of a license). This makes it decently difficult to plea bargain with the prosecutor, particularly to get a driving under the influence charge reduced to something lesser. But there are several choices. earlier I get going, it is imperative to bear in mind that the judge doesn't have to accept a plea bargain. The court can always impose their own punishment.
Initially, it may be possible to persuade the prosecutor to prosecute your drunk driving as a initially drunk driving even though you have a earlier infraction in the preceding 7 years. This allows your Seattle criminal lawyer to get a lower sentence, lower fines, and reduced license revocation (though this will frequently not affect the administrative license suspension as they work separately of the prosecutor's office).
Next, it may be probable to get some of the accompanying charges dismissed. If you were pulled over for a cracked tail light, this may not seem like much. But if your drunk driving charge is accompanied with leaving the scene of an accident, fleeing and alluding, or something similar, getting those dismissed can be a acceptable outcome.
Third, in several instances, when the prosecutor's state of affairs is reasonably flimsy, you might be able to plead down the drunk driving to reckless driving. This is advantageous for the reason that it reduces the driving suspension, there is no mandatory jail time, and there is no ignition interlock condition. It will require the high risk insurance, but if your license has already been suspended administratively, you have to have that anyway. If you can get negligent driving 1st degree, you don't even have to have the high risk insurance, and many insurers treat it as a couple of speeding tickets, if they observe it at all.
In some occasion, if you desire to get the best deal, you've got to find a criminal lawyer in Seattle that is dependable, honest, and has a good quality reputation at the prosecutor's office (for being a straight shooter, not necessarily a person the prosecutor likes). If your driving under the influence attorney brags about pulling one over on the prosecutor's office, you can expect that either the prosecutor is going to see through it, or the DUI lawyer in Seattle has done it previously, and you are not going to be assisted because of it.
Lawyering is an art and a science, but if you don't possess reliability, you won't get that much needed benefit of the doubt. It could result in a much harsher sentence than was initially possible.
Related Posts:
Seattle Criminal Attorney | DUI Consequences
Seattle Criminal Attorney | You Need to Know One
